ORGANISATIONS AND POLITICAL PARTIES DURING INDIAN

INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT
Bangabhasha Prakasika Sabha
-

It was a political association formed in 1836 by associates of raja ramohan

Roy.

It discussed topics connected with policy and administration of govt and

sought redress by sending petition and memorials to govt.
Zamindari association (landholders society)

Founded in 1838 to address concerns of landlords in Bengal.

It marked the beginning of organised political activity and use of methods of

constitutional agitation for redresses of grievances.

It was later merged with the British India association.

British India association

Est. in 1843 as a political association. It was formed by the amalgamation of

the Landholders Society and the Bengal British India Society.

The primary objective was safeguarding class interest of landlords.

It was liberal in outlook and sent several petitions regarding separation of

judiciary from executive, reduction of salaries of higher officials, abolition of
salt duty, abkari, and stamp duties etc.

(Madras native association was founded on similar lines)

(Bombay presidency Association was founded by Pherozshah Mehta in 1885. it

worked in close association with Poona sarvajanik sabha. )
Bramho samaj
-

Founded by Rammohan Roy in 1828.

It was influenced by western ideas. It was a reformist movement.

Accepted god as given in Upanishads but rejected idolatry and priesthood.

Rejected Brahmin superiority and casteism.

It took no definite stand on doctrine of karma and transmigration of soul and

left it to individuals to believe either way.
Deoband school

Revivalist movement Started by orthodox sections among Muslims to counter

the ideas of Aligarh movement.

Muhammad qasim wanotavi and Rashid Ahmad Gangohi founded the school.

It had twin objective i) to propagate the teachings in Quran and Hadith. ii) To
keep alive spirit of jihad against the foreign rulers.

The school didnt prepare the student for govt job but for preaching Islamic
faith.

The school welcomed the formation of Indian national congress.

Revivalist movements
Arya samaj, deoband school, theosophical society, ramkrishna mission, wahabi
movement
Khilafat movement
-

It was a pan-Islamic, political protest campaign launched by Muslims

in British India to influence the British government and to protect the Ottoman
Empire during the aftermath of World War I.

Mohammad Ali and his brother Maulana Shaukat Ali formed the All India
Khilafat Committee. They aimed to build political unity amongst Muslims and
use their influence to protect the caliphate.

Central Khilafat Committee participated in All parties Conference, which

formed a committee under the presidency of Moti Lal Nehru to draft a
constitution, which came to be known as "Nehru Report.
Satya Shodhak Samaj

a religion established by Mahatma Jyotirao Phuleon September 24, 1873. This

was started as a group whose main aim was to liberate the social Shudra and
Untouchable castes from exploitation and oppression.

His movement was kept alive by Shahu Maharaj, Krantisinha Nana Patil and
many other leaders after him. A H Salunkhe is one of the prominent activists
related to this society today.

All India Women's Conference

-

It is an organization based in Delhi. It was founded in 1927 by Margaret

Cousins dedicated to upliftment and betterment of women and children".

From its start in 1927 the organisation concentrated on social reform and
spread of education among Indian women.

The efforts of AIWC played an important role in mobilizing support for the
Sarda Bill that fixed the age of marriage for girls at 14 years and boys at 18
years.

An important milestone in the history of the organization was the setting up of

the Lady Irvin College, a womens college for Home Science, Educational
Research and Training for Teachers in Delhi in 1932. The college was set up
under the Education Fund of the Conference.

The organisation also played important role in social reforms like throwing
open Hindu temples to all classes in Travancore. It also helped in spreading
education among children of depressed classes.

It works on the principle of social justice, personal integrity and equal

rights and opportunities for all.

It secure recognition of the inherent right of every human being to work and to
achieve the essentials of life, which should not be determined by accident of
birth or sex but by planned social distribution.

National council for women

-

founded by mehribai tata in 1925 as an Indian branch of International

council of women.

Depressed Class Mission

- Vitthal ramji shinde est. Depressed classes mission in 1906 to provide education to
dalits. Aims of this mission were:
1. 1.To try to get rid of untouchability.
2. 2.To provide educational facilities to the untouchables.
3. 3.To start schools, hostels, and hospitals for them.
4. 4.To solve their social problems.

Krishak Praja Party

-

Est. as Praja party in 1929 by A.K Fazlul huq. The party was formed within
the Bengal Province Legislative Council.

It also aimed to champion the cause of tenants and the working classes and to
support the dyarchy. The party found a good campaign issue in the Bengal
Tenancy (Amendment) Act, 1928.

Slogan of "Land to the tillers!". Its aim was not egalitarianism or

revolution. Its leaders were a group of Muslims drawn from the lesser
landowners and the higher grades of farmers who sought to dislodge the
existing Muslim leadership of the Province of Bengal.

The party was renamed the Krishak Praja Party to turn it into an election
machine to fight the first Provincial elections held under the Government of
India Act 1935. The party broke in 1937.
Unionist Muslim League

A secular political party based in the province of Punjab during the period of
British rule in India. The Unionist Party mainly represented the interests of
landlords of Punjab, which included Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs.

Est. by sir sikander hayat khan, Chhotu ram and Fazli hussain. The Unionists
supported the British Raj.

Several foreigners made India their homeland and participated in various

movements. Analyze their role in the Indian struggle for freedom
1) Annie Besant:
2) Charles Andrew (Dinbandhu)

-English missionary philanthropist.

Extended his wholehearted support to the freedom struggle and criticized
the British for their unjust and racial policies.
- Took part in political and social movements launched by Indian leaders.
- championed the rights of labourers, railway workers and cotton weavers
- actively worked with BR Ambedkar for Harijan demands, campaigned
against untouchability
- Gandhi gave the title of Dinbandhu for his compassion for poor.
- Advocated the rights of Indian settler in South Africa, East Africa, West
Indies, Fiji and the English colonies in other parts of the world.
- Used his influence in England to arouse public opinion against colonial
exploitation.
- Even negotiated with the government in England for Gandhis release
from prison.
3) Madeleine slade

From aristocratic English family.

Influenced by Gandhian philosophy, joined Sabarmati Ashram, took part
in Gandhis socio-political campaigns.
- toured throughout India to promote Khadi and Satyagraha
- Wrote many articles in Young India, Harijan, The Stateman, Times of India
and Hindustan Times.
- Major role in setting up Seva gram near Wardha.
- Accompanied Gandhi to Round table conference in London.
- During WW2, asked Orissa people to oppose Japanese invasion nonviolently.
- Placed under detention during Quit India movement.
4) satyanand stokes

Samuel Evans Stokes Jr. was scion of a Wealthy American family. Came to
India to work in a leaper home in Himachal.
fought relentlessly against labour exploitation in the Shimla hills
Only American to attend Congress session in Nagpur (1920)
Only foreigner to sign Congress manifesto in 1921 that called upon
Indians to give up government service and join the freedom movement.
Arrested on charges of Sedition, jailed for six months.

5) Mira Alphonse (Mother)

French woman, associated of Shri Aurobindo,

role in setting up Auroville town near Pondicherry.

Motivated Annie Beasant, Nalini Sengupta and many other women to

fight for India.

Harijan sevak sangh

All india depressed class association
Indian national social conference
ZELIONCRONG MOVEMENT
(kherwar) Sapha har movement
Tabligh movement, tanzeem movements

PERSONALITIES
1) Nryana Guru: a Hindu saint, sadhu and social reformer of India. born into
an Ezhava family faced much social injustice in the caste-ridden Kerala
society. rejected casteism and promoted new values of spiritual freedom
and social equality. He denounced the superstitions that clouded the
fundamental Hindu cultural convention of Chaturvarna. Narayana's literary
and philosophical masterpiece is claimed to be Atmopadesa Satakam written
in Malayalam around 1897. He stressed the need for a Brahma Vidyalaya for
a comparative study of different religious faiths.
2)

Margaret

Elizabeth

Cousins:

Indian educationist, suffragist and Theosophist,

was
who

established All

an
India

IrishWomen's

Conference (AIWC) in 1927. She is credited with composing the tune for the Indian
National Anthem "Jana Gana Mana" in February 1919, during Rabindranath Tagore's visit
to the Madanapalle College. In 1916, she became the first non-Indian member of
the Indian Women's University at Poona.

3) Ishwar Chandra vidyasagar:

was an Indian Bengali polymath and a key figure of

the Bengal Renaissance. His efforts to simplify and modernize Bengali prose were
significant. Strong proponent of widow remarriage. He took the initiative in proposing and
pushing the Widow Remarriage ActXV of 1856.

4) D. k. karve:

a social reformer in India in the field of women's welfare. Bharat ratna

awardee. He started the first Indian women university in pune.

5) Walchand hirachand: he est. Indias first Swadeshi steam navigation

company.
6)

Harish Chandra Mukherjee : He was an Indian journalist and patriot, who fought tooth
and nail for the indigo cultivators (and against the indigo planters) and forced the
government to bring about changes.

7)

Ayyankali: social reformer who worked for untouchables. sought to improve access to
education. He started a school to teach Untouchable children at Venganoor

8)

Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee: was a prolific Bengali educator and the second Indian ViceChancellor of the University of Calcutta. Responsible for the foundation of the Bengal
Technical Institute in 1906. He was often called the "Tiger of Bengal" for his high selfesteem, courage, academic integrity and a general intransigent attitude towards the
British Government.

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU

Nehru was a socialist, an internationalist, and a defender of civil liberties in

an age when most were willing to compromise on personal freedoms in the
service of the state.

WHAT IS NEHRUVIANISM

Nehru backed a modernist, centrist version of the state. He stood against a socalled Gandhian insistence on the primacy of the village:

He supported internationalism over nationalism. Nehrus analogy then was

that of disease: just as the sick patient cannot perceive much beyond his
illness, a nation not yet free cannot see beyond nationalism; but once they are
free, the illness that is nationalism must end. Wider and more important goals
become important.

Socialism over capitalism. Favoured a centrist state and state driven economy.

DEPENDENCE on heavy industries rather than cottage industries

Non-alignment (which, as Nehru insisted, was not neutralism) was both

principled and pragmatic as a means to maintain that autonomy.